Hawks take training camp to Nashville: a roster crunch, a Devin Carter cut, and a rebuilt roster

The Hawks are leaving town — temporarily. Atlanta will hold 2026 training camp at Vanderbilt University's practice facility in Nashville from Sept. 29 through Oct. 2, a change of scenery after last year's camp at the University of Georgia in Athens. It's a short trip, but it's a telling one: this roster is being rebuilt on the fly, and the Hawks want the new pieces to figure each other out somewhere with zero distractions.

They also start camp overweight. Atlanta carried 17 players into September and needs to be down to 15 for the regular season, which is why guard Devin Carter is already gone.

Devin Carter waived, the numbers add up

The first real roster decision of the lead-up to camp was Carter, who was waived Friday after arriving from Sacramento this summer. He averaged 8.9 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 18.4 minutes over 38 games last season — a legit rotation guy who simply got squeezed by how many bodies Atlanta is carrying.

Cutting Carter is the easy version of what's coming. Getting from 17 to 15 always means a couple of players with real résumés end up on the outside looking in. The Hawks are about to find out exactly who that is.

The summer haul, in one paragraph

This is a very different team than the one that lost to the Knicks in the first round in April. Luguentz Dort and Aaron Wiggins arrived in separate deals with Oklahoma City, Ryan Nembhard came from Dallas as part of the Zaccharie Risacher trade, and the Hawks re-signed CJ McCollum and Jock Landale before adding three rookies in the 2026 draft — eighth overall pick Kingston Flemings, plus Zuby Ejiofor and Henri Veesaar.

The anchor is still Jalen Johnson, who made the All-Star team last year while putting up 22.5 points, 10.3 rebounds and 7.9 assists a night in the post-Trae Young era. ESPN's projections have Atlanta at 47-35 and sixth in the East. The pieces are in place. Now they have to actually fit.

No excuses, new address

The move to Nashville isn't just scenery — it's a statement that this is a coach Quin Snyder team that was 20-6 after the All-Star break a season ago and wants to bottle that run from Day 1. Camp dates: Sept. 29-Oct. 2, then the preseason opener is Oct. 5 against Memphis at State Farm Arena, followed by San Antonio, Indiana, Oklahoma City and a finale at Dallas before opening night Oct. 21 at Orlando and the home opener Oct. 24 against Houston.

The roster crunch, the new faces, the new camp home — it's all pointing at one thing, and it happens to be the same thing every October: the rotation has to be settled by the time the lights come on.

Bird Gang bottom line

Cutting Devin Carter tells you everything about the summer: Atlanta isn't keeping guys out of loyalty, it's keeping the 15 who fit a Jalen Johnson-led, defense-first rotation. Getting from 17 to 15 is going to sting at least one more name before Oct. 21. Watch who survives the Nashville trip — that's your opening-night rotation on the way to being written.

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